A/N: So I'm gonna be honest, this chapter was started right after I published the first one. (I will wait a little while before uploading this chapter in case there are any important critiquing reviews) This is the first time that I've had some free time and writing is helping me feel better and relax some more. Plus I didn't want to lose the creative juices I have flowing. I would be disappointed in myself if I stopped writing this story. So please R&R and enjoy.

Chapter 2:

Jack paced around Brooklyn. As soon as they figured that Cookie wasn't going to meet up with them, Jack had sent Racetrack to Brooklyn to ask Spot for help. Spot had told Jack to bring his newsies to Brooklyn and they would figure something out there. They had to drag Skittery and Mush away from Manhattan. "Spot what are we gonna do? My boys can't stay here forever; there ain't enough room here, no offense."

"I know Jacky boy." Spot pulled out his cane and was tapping it on the ground, deep in thought. "Taking back the lodging house would be easy, except…" Spot stopped looking Jack in the eyes. They both knew that Cookie was still in the lodging house. They had sent one of the younger guys to keep an eye on the lodging house and he had seen Cookie from her window.

Jack nodded his head, "We can't let anything happen to Cookie. Skittery would kill us."

"We need eyes on their set up." Racetrack said coming up lighting a cigar. "We figure out what they've got going on in the lodging house, and then we can figure out a plan to infiltrate."

Jack looked over at Racetrack, "Ok then you go. Pretend that you're going to be an ummm…ambastard for us. Tell them you want to…" he paused looking for the right words. He wished Dave had been with them, he was better at these things. "Tell them you want to talk on behalf of Manhattan newsies."

"Tell them you need to see Cookie first to make sure she's ok." Skittery said walking up on the group.

Spot nodded listening to everything that was being said. "This is what you do; tell them you're there to negotiate terms for the lodging house on behalf of Jacky boy. Tell them you need to see Cookie before anything can be done. When you're there get the layout. When you come back, bring the walking mouth, he'll help us from there."

"Yeah but why do I have to go?" Racetrack asked looking at his friend's faces.

"Because if Mush or I went, we'd probably end up killing someone." Skittery said, looking down at the ground.

…

Racetrack was nervous walking through Manhattan he saw newsies, none of whom he recognized. He was stopped at the steps of the Manhattan lodging house. "Jack Kelly sent me. He wanted to talk terms about getting the lodging house back."

Ace and Brass looked up from the card game they had going. "Is that so?" Brass said eye Racetrack over.

"What's the catch?" Ace said standing up. "Since when does Jacky boy play nice?" He followed Race's eyes down the hall towards Cookie's door. "Ah, I see. Jacky boy is worried about Cookie."

Racetrack scowled a little. "You can't blame us for making sure that she's ok first can ya?"

Ace shook his head. "Down this way." Racetrack followed the familiar lay out of the lodging house. Ace motioned for the two newsies outside the door to step out of the way. "And you can't blame me for wanting to keep an eye on you two can ya?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever." Racetrack said opening the door. He looked inside and his heart jumped into his throat for a moment. For a second he had thought she was dead until she started fidgeting. He sighed before walking in the room and gently waking her up. "Cookie?"

She fidgeted a little bit more before breaking out of her feverish sleep. "What?"

Racetrack sat on the edge of her bed and held onto her shoulders, focusing her attention, "Cookie, it's me Race. You alright?"

"Of course I'm alright, except for ya know the guards I have right now." She tried to shake the sleepiness out of her eyes. "Please tell me you've got a plan to get me out of here." She looked over Race's shoulder at Ace and Brass watching them from the door way. She lowered her voice, "I gotta get out of here."

Racetrack turned around to glare at Ace and Brass. He turned back to Cookie, "We're working on it don't worry." She just nodded her head lightly. "You need more sleep." Before standing up he felt her forehead. "Get some rest." Race walked down the hall and turned towards the door.

"Hey! What about Jacky boy's deal?" Ace said stopping Racetrack from leaving the lodging house.

Racetrack semi-smiled, "It depends on how Cookie's being treated. I report back to Jack on how she is, he tells me what to tell you."

"Why do I feel like I'm being tricked here Race?" Ace said taking a step closer to Racetrack.

"Let him leave." Brass said putting a hand on Ace's shoulder. "Race can go back to his newsies, tell the big bad boss man that Cookie is fine and we can get what we want from them." She gave Racetrack a smile filled with venom. "But just know that no one double crosses me."

Racetrack just nodded and made his way back to Brooklyn. "Jack." Jack and Spot had been hanging around the docks waiting for Race to make his way back. "I got to see her."

"How is she?" Jack asked lighting a cigarette.

Race shook his head, "I've never seen anyone so sick in my entire life. Other than that she's ok. But they've got people watching her 24/7."

"That's going to be hard to work around." Spot said shaking his head. "And what about this new leader, what's he like."

Race laughed slightly, "Actually it's a she. And I tell ya, she's probably worse than Cookie and Shortstuff combined."

"So why did some girl decide to take over our lodging house?" Jack asked tossing his cigarette butt into the water.

Race's laugh died away. "She's with Ace."

Jack just nodded. The news boys closest to Cookie knew that Cookie once went out with Ace, and that it didn't end well. "Ok, so he's after some sort of revenge. Whatever we do, we can't tell Mush or Skittery that Ace is involved. They'd kill him."

"Maybe we should let them." Spot spoke up.

Jack shook his head, "I'm tired of waiting, I'm gonna go and show them that we mean business. Get Mush, Skittery, and Blink. Spot will you come with us?"

"Sure, sounds like fun." Spot laughed.

…

Ace looked over at Brass sleeping on the bunk next to him and sighed. He hadn't realized how troublesome working with the Queen's newsies would be. Not that he didn't like causing trouble for cowboy and his newsies, he just hadn't realized how deep he would get with this girl. He never really loved anything other than himself and power.

"Crap." He whispered and got out of bed. He quickly got dressed and went outside to light a cigarette. He held up his burning cigarette and watched it burn. "Some men just want to watch the world burn….or something else." He stomped his cigarette out as he watched some of the newsies coming out of the lodging house. He walked inside towards the two newsboys he had watching cookie's door. "You guys can leave today."

They looked at each other then back at Ace, "What are you talking about?"

"Just trust me and get out of here for the day." Ace grabbed a chair and propped it under the doorknob, "She ain't going nowhere." Ace hung around the lodging house until everyone had left. He went back to his bunk and grabbed the rest of the matches he had there. "They'll never expect this." One by one he lit each match, lighting a bunk or some other piece of furniture on fire. Once the entire book of matches was burnt out and the inside of the lodging house was getting smoky from the fire, Ace ran out of the lodging house, admiring the smoke he could see from the inside of the building.

…

Jack, Spot, Mush, Skittery, Racetrack and Blink walked towards Manhattan in silence. Each one had different things on their minds. "What's that?" Jack said looking towards the lodging house.

Everyone looked up toward the sky where Jack was pointing. "Is that smoke?" Mush asked.

Jack nodded and took off running towards the lodging house with the others following close behind him.

…

Cookie woke up coughing more than normal. Her fever had gone down a little and her cough had stopped somewhat but she woke up choking. "What…" She said covering her mouth with her arm as smoke started to fill the room. She got out of bed and made her way over to the door and her eyes filled with fear as she tried the doorknob and it didn't budge.